Truth comes out: Some Miami Dolphins don’t love game as much as organization thought

DAVIE — In the spring of 2016, new Dolphins general manager Chris Grier held one of those pre-draft news conferences designed to reveal as little as possible about the upcoming selections.

“Really, you just want guys that are competitive, that love football, have passion for the game, are football smart and are driven to succeed,” Grier said. “Coaches can’t always push guys. You want guys who are going to push themselves and basically just love to compete. It’s what we’ve talked about from Day 1, just bringing competitive players (in that) we love, that love football.”

That’s a whole lotta “love.” A week later, when the Dolphins took offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil in the first round, the reasoning was predictable.

“He loves football,” Grier said.

On and on it went, in both last year’s draft and this year’s: Receiver Leonte Carroo “loves football,” guard Isaac Asiata has “a love for football” and cornerback Cordrea Tankersley is another of those who “love the game.”

Today, we know better.

That’s not to say any of the aforementioned players don’t love the game. Maybe they do.

But what we now know is a significant number of Dolphins don’t love the game.

We know this because the Dolphins said so.

A day after the Dolphins were undressed by the Baltimore Ravens 40-0, they were stripped naked by coach Adam Gase, who began his news conference by saying the problems with his offense isn’t that players are having trouble retaining their assignments, but that they’re not bothering to study them in the first place.

Like antsy students waiting for that 3 p.m. bell, players are blowing off homework required to nail down details that can’t be absorbed strictly in meetings. And that includes the team’s best players.

Gase covered all that ground in the answer to the very first question. With each successive answer, he piled it on.

In an amazingly damning revelation, Gase said this lax attitude has been prevalent not for a month or two, but since he took over as Dolphins coach 1 1/2 years ago.

Gase said he has been harping on this to players “for a while” and he was “fed up with it.”

Gase said he would “get rid of” players who continue to slack off.

And — in an amazingly damning revelation — Gase said this lax attitude has been prevalent not for a month or two, but since he took over as Dolphins coach 1 1/2 years ago.

Where is the love?

It certainly can’t be found amid all the three-and-outs and pre-snap confusion and missed blitz pick-ups. It’s not in running backs getting dropped for losses and passes getting dropped for lack of concentration. It’s not on the stat sheet, where an offense coached by a quarterback whisperer ranks last in most any category that matters.

The ironic part is that the rest of the team has upheld its end. They haven’t lost that lovin’ feeling. Special teams? “We seem to be all right,” Gase said. Defense? First-year coordinator Matt Burke has transformed the former laughingstock into one of the most solid units in the league, one that deserves a better fate.

One of Burke’s favorite techniques is yanking players to the front of the meeting room and giving them pop quizzes before the group. Sounds like a good strategy for Gase and the offense to push those who need it until they can be weeded out in the offseason.

This isn’t to say what ails the Dolphins is the simply fault of Grier, head of football operations Mike Tannenbaum and the scouting department. One of the oldest cliches in the game is that you can’t measure heart. Most of the time you hear that, it’s referring to a classic overachiever in the mold of a Zach Thomas. But any NFL personnel man can attest it works both ways. You’d be amazed how great an actor even the laziest player can be when he’s coached up by an agent, with several million dollars dangling in front of him as the carrot (or is it karat?).

Likewise, it’s not hard to see this from a player’s perspective. High school football is pure fun, and it doesn’t exactly hurt you in the popularity department. College football offers the pageantry and a scholarship to offset the growing feeling that this game is more like work. Those lucky enough to reach the NFL either embrace the fact that their childhood passion is truly a business or they don’t.